Archie Lee

To the bolded, I think you are connecting dots that don't align. Just about the worst thing a professional sports team can do is mess with a player's health. In specific relation to Eichel's health, there is no reason to think that either side in this dispute is acting in bad faith. I understand that the reputation the Sabres have earned as a bumbling franchise will, for some people, be reinforced by this, but that does not mean their position is wrong.

I'm not sure about the bolded. In the group of 5 players you list, only Reinhart was good (for the most part) from start to finish last year. Eichel, Ullmark and McCabe spent much of the year playing injured or out with injury. I'm personally with you on Risto, but 50% of the fanbase has told us for years that getting rid of him will be addition by subtraction. All things considered, replacing these guys in relation to what they did for us last year might not be that difficult.

I think this summarizes the "tank" v. "not a tank" debate pretty well. If in mid-November Aaron Dell is giving us a .920 save % and Vinnie Hinostroza is playing at a point per game pace and we trade them both for a 6th round pick, then we will know it is a tank.

The one thing I hope with goaltending this coming season is that we don't just continually stick with a guy who is not playing well. The last 2 years we stuck with Hutton long past the point were it was obvious he wasn't good enough. I know that Tokarski is not an exciting option; but his #'s v. Hutton's #'s last year = almost a 1/2 goal less against per game. The only goalie in our current stable that the organization is committed to is Luukkonen. He should be playing in the environment that is best conducive to his development. The other guys should be rotated based on how they are playing. If Dell or Anderson start the year giving us .905 or better then that is likely all that can be hoped for. But if they are giving us .895, then Tokarski (or even Houser) should get a shot and/or waivers should be explored.

If Fitzgerald were 4” taller he would be Will Borgen. I wouldn’t write off that he might be a legit NHL D-man.

I agree. Unfortunately, I suspect the current reality is that no team is offering this good of a return. Indeed, the Rangers would likely view each piece I have listed from them (Strome, Chytil, Schneider, Georgiev and the 1st) as more valuable than Johnson; maybe with the exception of Georgiev. So you can probably just take Johnson and Schneider out of the trade. Also, they are not likely to trade both Strome and Chytil in the deal. Maybe they would if Eichel was sure to be ready from the start of the year. As is, it would leave them very thin down the middle. A more likely offer from NY right now would be Strome, Kravtsov, Georgiev and a 1st.

I completely agree. There is no guarantee though that Rossi or Krebs won't bust. There was a time when Yakupov was as highly regarded, likely more so, as a prospect than either of those two.

I guess we will see what we eventually receive. We might get a return that includes 1 higher end prospect (Zegras, Rossi, Krebs), but that will put a lot of pressure on that prospect as "the player" we obtained for Jack Eichel. My proposal is the equivalent of five 1st round picks (in my view). Chytil, Schneider and the 1st are obvious 1st round equivalents. There might be debate over Georgiev and Strome, but I think they equal two firsts (or very close). Since arriving in NY, Strome has produced at basically the same level as Reinhart; I don't think know why this would be dismissed as the Panarin effect when he has not likely played more with Panarin than Reinhart got to play with Eichel. That we are getting the equivalent of five first round picks is why I included Johnson as part of the deal. He's not a throw in; he's included because: - All of the assets obtained from the NYR are in areas of more urgent organizational requirement (centre, RD, goal) - Johnson is one of only four 1st round picks in the entire 2018 and 2019 NHL draft classes who has yet to sign an NHL contract; I'm not too worried about this, but Schneider is signed and ready to play in Rochester next year.

I actually think there are multiple Ranger options that are pretty good. They are not my preferred trade partner for many reasons, but they have some great pieces that make sense if there is no team that is offering what we have identified as that single elite prospect that should be the starting point for a deal. I don't agree at all on the St. Louis / O'Reilly comparison. To begin with, the Rangers simply don't have any players in the Berglund/Sobotka category that could be included in the deal. Strome is the one bigger contract that might have to come our way for salary reasons. He has 108 points in 126 games over the past two seasons and has one year at $4.5 million left on his deal. There is no comparison between him and the Blues' cap dumps. If the Sabres were willing to retain 50% on Strome's contract, there would be at least a dozen NHL teams interested in him I would think. After Strome, even if you take out the big three of Laf, Kaako and Miller, it leaves a large pool of good young players in Chytil, Kravtsov, Lundkvist, Schneider and Georgiev; just to name the most prominent. A trade of Eichel, the rights to Ryan Johnson and a depth goalie (Tokarski) for: Strome, Chytil, Schneider, Georgiev and a 1st, would be a fine return in my opinion. While there is risk to be sure in any trade that focuses on multiple pieces; it is also the case that there are no guarantees around prospects like Zegras, Rossi or Krebs. I really think, at this point, that the Eichel trade will be about asset accumulation. If the Sabres were to make this trade with the Rangers, they would have the following 1st round picks since 2016 in their system: Dahlin #1, 2018 Power #1, 2021 Cozens #7, 2019 Mittelstadt #8, 2017 Quinn #8, 2020 Rosen #14, 2021 Schneider #19, 2020 Chytil #21, 2017 Thompson #26, 2016 Jokiharju #29, 2017 That's 10 first round picks from the past 6 drafts with three additional 1st round picks coming in 2022 to go along with additional higher-end prospects like Ruotsalainen, Luukkonen, Samuelsson and Peterka. That would provide us with a combination of young NHL talent, prospect talent and draft capital at a level that we frankly never had before or after the tank years.

There are many things that go into good leadership. Not being a good leader does not make one a bad person. Unfortunately, when people rise to leadership positions and they are either not yet ready or not "made" for the role, their leadership shortcomings are sometimes mistaken for issues of character. This is on the Sabres (not the current leadership; Adams and Granato did not make Eichel the captain and anoint him to a leadership role). Eichel was thrust into a role he was ill-suited for.

Honestly, if we are signing these guys we should give Houser a shot. He can be waived as easy as Dell.

Nick Bonino for a year would be ok. He has played on winners most of his career. Can play wing if we go young at centre and can move to centre in times where it is getting overwhelming for the kids.

I think we only had around a 20% chance of winning the lottery. The tank was for a 1/5 chance at McDavid, with Eichel (a potentially generational player) being the worst case scenario.

Maybe DeSmith too. The thing that is being overlooked on this, I think, is that a team like Washington might either: 1.) Prefer to lose Vanicek over other exposed players. So, if they trade Vanicek they are increasing the likelihood they then lose a player they value more; or 2.) Feel certain that Seattle is not going to take Vanicek; so, trading him would mean giving up goalie depth for no good reason.

The Avalanche did the same thing. Protected Grubauer. Like the Sabres they are going into the expansion draft without an NHL calibre starting goalie under contract.

It's really an unusual year. We have Sabres fans, credibly I think, stating with conviction that Eklund should be our pick at #1. Yet the mock draft that the two NHL writers (Kimelman and Morreale) published yesterday has Eklund going 5th or 9th. As a fan who loves the draft but acknowledges he gets little opportunity to see any of these players outside of a view highlight videos, it is hard to process. In a way it would be more fun (not better, but more enjoyable) if we picked 6th or 7th this year as we could watch and see who falls to us. Of course, that 1st pick of round 2 may prove valuable as a lot of teams, including us, should have a player still available after round 1 who they would have picked in the high teens or low 20's.

If he is here this year, it would be nice if he had a year where he was used as a 4th d-man, 2nd pairing defender. His price tag is high for that deployment, obviously. Whether he would help the team in that role, I'm not sure. Hard to know when he has not been used that way. I won't be shocked if the Sabres don't move him. I think he will be protected. I think the Sabres will either: 1.) Give something to Seattle to take Miller; or 2.) Be perfectly fine with Seattle just taking whichever exposed player they take.

There aren't many teams that have: 1.) An expansion draft eligible goalie they are protecting; 2.) A 2nd expansion draft eligible goalie they wouldn't want to lose for nothing; and 3.) A 3rd expansion draft eligible goalie that they can expose to Seattle, as is required, if they trade goalie #2. The other factor is that those few teams who meet the above criteria, may well just prefer to lose the goalie to Seattle than to lose the skater that Seattle would take if goalie #2 is traded. This is not as simple as some are making it out to be. The few teams that are in a situation where they may want to move a goalie, may be taking it down to the wire, similar to the regular trade deadline.

Just speculating. Maybe the Sabres don't want to lose two right shot D-men in the next few days. If they trade Risto and protect Borgen, it funnels Seattle towards Miller (unless Seattle takes Girgensens). That would leave us with Joker and Borgen as our only two NHL-level right shot D-men (and that's making the assumption we are correct and Borgen is NHL-level). The Sabres could still acquire one or two right shot D-men in other trades or in free agency, but maybe they would prefer to just protect Risto or Borgen and let Seattle pick the right shot D-man they want between Miller or Risto/Borgen. It would still be my preference that we trade something to Seattle to have them take Miller. The wildcard in all of this, in my view, is that we really don't know what the Sabres' plans are for this year. Are they: 1.) Planning a longer term rebuild where they come in well below the cap with a very young team and leverage that cap space to take on bad contracts and good assets from other teams? Or 2.) Planning to spend closer to the cap by taking back useful veterans as part of Eichel/Reinhart trades and by adding more useful vets in free agency in an attempt to be competitive during a shorter-term rebuild. If they are doing #1, then trading Risto and protecting Borgen makes sense. If they are doing #2, then, regardless of our opinions on Risto and Miller, I don't think it makes sense for us to lose both of them in the span of a few days.

Dumba, Fiala, Rask, Rossi, a 1st and a 2nd for Eichel and Ryan Johnson.

Just curious as to what analytics you would be referencing? I don't have access (that I know of) to anything other then corsi/fenwick type stuff, and they are pretty close in those categories. Not surprisingly, Bjork's corsi/fenwick #s were better in Boston (as were Hall's and Lazar's). I would protect Asplund over Bjork, because he is 16 months younger and can also play centre.

I went with Power at #1 and Beniers if he is available in the "if we have another top 5 pick" spot. I'm not a prospect expert by any means, though I love the draft and am very interested. My knowledge comes from what I read and video clips, so I would not pretend to have anything above the minimal level of knowledge about any of these players. If we end up with two top 8 picks and get Power, Beniers or Eklund at #1 and then any one of Beniers, Eklund, McTavish, Guenther, Johnson, Hughes or Clarke with the 2nd pick (assuming Power isn't available for our 2nd pick and that we don't take two D-men), then I am happy.

That seems high to me. Maybe there’s a team that rolls the dice for 1-2 years on him at that. Longer term would be high risk though. I do think he will have playoff teams kicking the tires on him. Edm, Tor, Col, Pitt and others could all have interest. Unless you mean 5.5 is what it will take for us to keep him over teams that will offer less but give him a better chance to win? If so, that could be true.

Agree on Ullmark. The 4 teams still playing either needed two goalies to get here (Mtl, Veg, NYI) or one that is all world (TB). Mtl doesn’t make the playoffs without Allen. I want Ullmark back and am prepared to give him 4-5 years at 4-5 million. This is not because I think he should be our clear #1 for the full term of the contract. It’s because in today’s NHL most teams need a 1A and a 1B. We have half of that for 4-5 years if we keep Ullmark.

I agree with this. I don't fault Eichel, Reinhart and Risto for wanting to move on. It is not their fault that the organization failed to build a team around them that had both sufficient talent to help them succeed and the sort of veteran leadership needed to assist them with their short-comings. My view is that the Sabres have more than sufficient assets (veteran players, including the 3 likely to be traded, young players and prospects, draft capital, likely cap space) to be successful on the ice. I think this is regardless of the path they chose. A good hockey-man could get the Sabres pointed in the right direction whether he chooses to keep the big 3 or trade them for futures and start a new re-build or trade them while making hockey moves intended to get the team to competitive hockey more quickly. I don't know that Adams is that hockey-man. If I have hope it comes from seeing that Adams has done some things right, in my view. He didn't sign anyone to a bad long-term contract last off-season. He did a decent job getting the team some draft capital back. He recognized how bad Krueger was and had the stones to go to the Pegulas and sell them on his vision (I'm speculating on that one a bit). We are going to get new data on Adams soon.